Zetian pilots the Yellow Dragon Chrysalis westward beyond the Kunlun Mountains into the Xihuang Desert, fueled by rage at the gods' recent ultimatum: serve them like the Sages did, and they may restore what she has lost; defy them or expose the truth, and she will lose everything. Inside the yīn-yáng realm shared via the pilot link, Qin Zheng's spirit form questions her ignorance about the gods' true nature.

Qin Zheng reveals that three months ago (from his perspective) he halted tribute to the gods, demanding to see their true faces and more in return. The gods responded with warnings, and shortly after he contracted flowerpox—possibly inflicted by them—because, he believes, the gods profit from the Hundun husks of an endless war and will never permit peace or victory. He confirms he knew the suppressed truth: that humans are not native to this planet, that the Hunduns are not mindless invaders, and that Rongdi folktales suggest their ancestors were criminals exiled from elsewhere.

Zetian wants to expose this truth to the world, but Qin Zheng forcibly takes control of the Dragon and lands it, insisting the fiction is necessary to maintain morale and pilot recruitment. He threatens to kill her himself and discredit her words if she tries to publicize it. He has also glimpsed her memories through the mind link, including a haunting image of Yizhi as a partial body in a fluid-filled tank—leveraging her hope of restoring him to push compliance with the gods, at least temporarily.

Zetian argues that Hundun Emperors can communicate, citing the Water Emperor's plea and the Metal Emperor's voice in pilots' minds, but Qin Zheng dismisses this. He proposes returning to Chang'an to plan a real challenge against the gods. Zetian reluctantly recognizes the strategic value of partnering with him: he is the most powerful possible co-pilot, shares her goal of defying the gods, and she may not be able to activate the Yellow Dragon without him. She knows almost nothing of him beyond legend and the frozen sea of hungry ghosts in his mind realm, and cannot access his memories.

She takes off again, exhausted, while Qin Zheng passively defers piloting decisions to her. Approaching the Kunlun Mountains, the cockpit pings with missed messages: she has flown out of range of the radio transmitters she'd left in place. Landing and checking her wristlet, she hears Yizhi's urgent warning that Liu Che and Wei Zifu—the third Prince-class Balanced Match piloting the Azure Dragon, the only pair she hasn't faced—are inbound. The message is already half an hour old.